Best Movies of 2012

I like movies.  Almost as much as books.  This year has been delightful in that both Boy and Baby Girl are old enough to sit through movies in the theater, and Baby Roo was tiny enough to just lie there as well, so I was able to catch almost every movie I wanted to see.  No, I did not take my children to see The Dark Knight Rises.  That's what babysitters are for.  But I was able to take the kids to see things Mirror Mirror, and The Lorax and Brave.  (We ended up going to Brave three times, actually.)

The Oscars are next week, and as usual I haven't seen most of the main Oscar nominees, and also as usual . . . I don't really care.  I'm going to the movies for personal enjoyment, not so I can watch Helen Hunt try to score more awards.  (Not that she isn't a fine actress.  But I have no interest in the movie she's nominated for.)  I would like to see Lincoln, and The Impossible, though.  And The Queen of Versailles.  I'm going to be catching them on DVD soon, I'm sure.

And allow me to also recommend (for the PG-13 eligible crowd) Warm Bodies, which was a fantastic riff on Romeo and Juliet.  I really loved that movie!  So much fun!

But now, without further ado, here are my top ten grown up film favorites that I saw in 2012:

    1.     The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

    2.     Skyfall

    3.     Silver Linings Playbook

    4.     The Dark Knight Rises

    5.     Argo 

    6.     The Avengers

    7.     Les Miserables

    8.     The Hunger Games

    9.     John Carter

   10.  The Amazing Spider-Man

  

    And the movies for the younger set:

   1.     Brave

   2.     Wreck-It Ralph

   3.     Rise of the Guardians

   4.     Hotel Transylvania

   5.     The Lorax

   6.     Mirror Mirror

   7.     Finding Nemo in 3D

   8.     Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

   9.     ParaNorman

Now before anyone gets upset: I love Finding Nemo.  I really, really do.  But I've also seen Finding Nemo roughly 4,000 times.  So seeing it in the theater had less of an impact on me than seeing say, The Lorax for the first time, where I laughed so hard my face hurt during the "river rescue" scene.  And please also remember: some of Auntie Jessica's favorite grown up films are rated R.  Please view responsibly.